From April 1981 to December 1988, a total of 23 patients were operated upon for the repair of an aneurysm of the descending thoracic aorta with a tridodecylmethylammonium chloride (TDMAC)-heparin-impregnated shunt. There were 20 men and 3 women. The ages ranged from 29 to 72 years with a mean of 52.3 years. The major pathological change of the aortic wall was medial cystic necrosis in 19 patients and atherosclerosis in 4. Among them, only 6 patients underwent elective surgery, while 17 patients underwent emergency operations with the surgical indication being shock in 4, oliguria in 3, persistence of chest pain in 2, massive hemoptysis in 1, rapid size progression of the aneurysm in 3, and impending rupture of the aneurysm in 4. During surgery, the aortic cross-clamping time ranged from 40 to 76 minutes with a mean of 54 minutes. Hospital death was limited to 2 patients with a mortality rate of 8.7%. Postoperative complications were noted in 5 patients, cerebrovascular accidents in 4 and transient paraparesis in 1. However, the clinical conditions recovered before those patients were discharged. The follow-up period ranged from 4 to 84 months with a mean of 32.3 months. Except for 1 patient who died of anaphylactic shock due to drug allergy, the other 20 survivors had an apparent improvement of their clinical status and life quality.